Time in Fada

Hello Everyone,

We spent several more days in Fada before going to the village. On Wednesday, ten of us piled into a seven passenger car to visit the village of Tanwalbougou. The car was very uncomfotable and the ride took two hours, when it takes one hour with a good vehicle. Pastor Rufus took us to the house neqr the church where we will be staying. He wanted to show us what our accomodations would be. It is a cement walled area with several huts with straw/grass roofs and a long drop toilet. We have stayed at similar places before, but not quite like that. He kept apologizing for being poor, which annoyed us because we don't care and we prefer to live with people so we can understand their way of living. When we arrived, the church choir sang several songs for us. They were very excited to see us. We greeted all of them and then went to see the church. The church is also used a a school for people to learn how to write in their own language, Gourmanchen. We were led to several homes in the village to greet members of the church. Pastor Rufus talked to us about our schedule and he surprized us by saying that we will stay with host homes in Fada instead of saying at SIM.

Thursday, we went to a prison to do a program. The prisonners were very happy to see us. They really appreicated ou message of grace, love, unity, and forgiveness. Unlike most of our programs in Africa, they weren't dancing along, but they did clap. Our French was translated into two local languages. There were about 250 men there. Either there weren't women at that prison, or they were somewhere else. We saw some family members bringing food to a prisonner because the prison doesn't serve enough for them. I wish that I knew more about the justice system here.

After lunch on Thursday, we left SIM for our host homes. We spent some time with each of our host homes. Sonja and I are together. While we will miss having French, German, Australians, Canadians, and Americans to talk to; we were glad to finally have the opportunity to be in host homes again.

Thursday afternoon, we went to an orphanage in Fada. The kids sang us a welcoming song that included our names. The president of the orphanage told us a little about the orphanage. There were about 40 kids that are between 6 and 18 years old. There are 20 kids on the a waiting list. The kids don't actually stay at the orphanage, they stay with host homes. Various organizations and people give financial support to the orphanage, so they can give money to host homes for meals. The orphanage employees visit Fada families to see if they can support their children. They take some children who are orphans (often due to AIDS), who have only one parent (who they also call orphans), and children whose parents are unable to provide for them. They choose some of them to help out and support. The orphanage has activities for the kids. They observe the kids in school to see how they behave. When they are 18, the kids move and learn a trade or go to school. We taught them some songs and did a puppet show. They loved it!! The kids sang several songs for us that include our names. We felt very welcome there. We played with the kids for awhile.

For dinner, we ate with a Muslim family. We pasted the Catholic churh, where there were about 2000 people for a service, but we didn't get to go to a Maunday Thursday service. Instead, Sonja and I read about the Last Supper together.

Staying with host homes in Fada has been wonderful. I am slowly remembering the French I learned while staying with host homes in Cameroon. My hosts only speak a little English. All of our hosts have electricity, only some have running water. My host mom, Esther is the secretary general of Fada. Her husband, Emmanuel, works out of town. They have a young son named Joshua. Three of their nieces are there also cooking, cleaning, and taking care of Joshua. There names are Fadi, Caroline, and Kati. The girls don't know French, which limits our conversation a lot, but all of them are great hosts. They knew we were coming for two weeks and prayed they they would have the means to provide for us, and they do!

Good Friday, we went to a preschool for 3 to 5 year olds. There were probbly aroudn 300 of them-- for only four teachers. They were very cute and had matching pink uniforms. There was a playground. We did some sing alongs and our puppet show. They had short attention spans, but were glad we were there. They wer very cute. In the evening, we went to Pastor's house for a Good Friday service for us and a few others. We played a few songs and Olivia gave a message. Prosper read from Luke. It was all in French.

Saturday afternoon, we did a program for 1000 students at a school. It was crazy and very dusty. We were supposed to have mics the whole time, but we only had them at the beginning because they stopped working. It was hard to talk and sing loud enough, but at least some of the kids were glad we were there. They were really packed in. When we tried to do our puppet show, we told the kids they could come closer, bu then they were hit with sticks by a guy who want them to move back; so, we didn't do our puppet show. We were all overwhelmed, but got though the crazy program by smiling at each other. In the evening, I was sad to hear that I missed my mom's call Friday because we are staying at different host homes, but at least Prosper got to take to her.

Easter Sunday, we went to the village of Tanwalbougou. Life in the village is great and we had a great Easter!! There is much more to tell about, but that will come later when I have time to go to a cyber again.


Peace,

Tiffany